Eulo to Yowah

Our riverside spot at Eulo provided us with such a pleasant ambience our stay extended to 4 nights. We are loving the carefree nature of staying rather than going. If the fish had been hungry it could have been longer.

Instead of leaving for Cunnamulla or Thargomindah we followed advice to go to Yowah, less than 100kms north of Eulo on a single lane sealed road.

The road itself was in excellent condition, but we weaved our way along it for the first 70kms or so. The amount of roadkill was appallingly high for a ‘backroad’ such as this, with dead roos, emus, goats & the occasional wild pig creating a ‘maze’ for us to navigate. We are thinking that there must have been a truck/road train go through the previous night.They are reputed to slow for nothing & just plough through whatever is in their way. There were not just single carcasses, but plenty of evidence of mass slaughters. The birds of prey & crows must’ve thought all their Christmases had come at once. The carnage reduced by 95+% north of Moama station which suggested to us where a truck may have been headed to or from.

Amazingly when returning back down this road just two days later most of the evidence had gone. Must’ve been a lot of heavy birds out there in scrub! It is hard to believe the birds could have cleared up so comprehensively & we wondered whether the slaughter had been an extraordinary event, where a clean-up response had been undertaken, although we heard no local talk about it if it was.

Yowah is another opal mining town with a small permanent population which grows each year with the annual influx of folk who love the ‘frontier’ way in which such towns provide them with a sense of belonging without the many beauracratic restrictions placed upon them elsewhere. There are always a higher proportion of ‘characters’ in such places, evidence of a far more accepting nature, where visitors are taken at face value. The opal here is of a different type, sometimes referred to as ’slab’ opal, often found by breaking open small boulders, known in these parts as ‘Yowah nuts’…. possibly also a reference to some of the permanent population! 🙂 The predominantly ’shack-like’ housing is commonly surrounded by the detritus of the lifestyle – old cars, pieces of ‘maybe useful one day’ machinery etc. To the city based eye they could be mistaken as eyesores rather than resources.

Cattle, emus & kangaroos are a common sight wandering through the streets.

Although not seeking a community to become part of, the welcoming nature of Yowah to all visitors was very apparent to us. Here is a small town doing it tough, as many small towns do, but rather than simply viewing visitors as a source of income, Yowah does an exceptional job of making folk feel welcome. Certainly visitors are an important part of the town’s income, but there is no sense of exploitation. The free camping, within the town boundary provides artesian hot showers (even the cold tap gives hot water!) & toilets, just a few minute’s stroll from the caravan park which provides much the same. Both co-exist happily, with the CP providing the town’s only grocery store. Every local you meet talks of what other’s provide, rather than just spruiking there own offering. Signs invite visitors to attend ‘locals’ regular events – eg. the weekly ladies craft night, the $8 ’soup & sweet night, the $20 Thursday 3 course dinner where the duck races raise money for the Royal Flying Doctor Service (RFDS) & more. We attended the Soup & sweet night, enjoyed the chance to socialise with the rest of the town’s visitors as well as locals, whilst listening to a mix of singing, guitar playing & didgeridoo playing. $8 each, plus a couple of drinks & raffle tickets left us just $35 lighter & feeling good about having contributed a little to the town.

Out the front of the caravan park is the bore which provides the town’s water supply. Water comes out of the earth here at a temperature too hot to hold your hand in & with a strongish sulphur stink. After settling in tanks & cooling the smell goes leaving a very drinkable water. We refilled the Tvan’s tanks with it. The bore runs freely day in & day out, with a small stream of cooling water running through the town.

At the free camping area we had cattle coming in to drink from the stream, & enough morning birdlife to have us consider whether we had been mysteriously transported to the set of a hitchcock movie during our night’s slumber. The birds (mainly Apostle birds, Crested pigeons, & surprisingly to us, Spotted bower birds) have clearly learned that us humans provide a good source of tucker & our breakfast (& theirs) was in the company of at least 100 feathered friends each day. The adult (pink mark on the back of their necks) Bower birds in particular were hilarious to watch. They seemed very territorial & were most put out if another adult came close, didn’t worry about the 100 other birds, not even the younger Bower birds, just another adult. They would open their beaks wide & hiss like a snake, followed by what looked just like a toddler tantrum. Jumping up & down, & side to side. Stopping every so often to hiss again. Breakfast in Yowah was an event not to be missed!

Also not to be missed in Yowah is an early evening drive up to ‘The Bluff’. An escarpment a short distance outside of town which affords breathtaking views of the country to the horizon & the chance to see large numbers of roos & emus alive, & well as well as the myriad of stone cairns which over the years have become a feature of the place.

A small further contribution was made to the town at the weekly market where fresh picked lemons & a small opal pendant were purchased. I enjoyed the lemons on pancakes, & MrsTea still remarks upon the variety of colours seen in her pendant each day. We are not talking huge expense here, $20 for the pendant has been as good value as the 30 cent juicy lemons! 😉